Obama Looks To The Super Committee To Solve All Of His Problems

President Barack Obama is turning to the 'Super Committee' to
solve all of his administration's problems with Congress.

To head off steep cuts to both Medicare and the Defense
Department, Congress must pass $1.5 trillion in cuts to the
federal deficit by the end of the year — but Obama wants the
bipartisan joint committee to think much bigger.

The president will outline his proposal in a speech shortly after
Labor Day The
Associated Press reports, and will include new ideas on job
creation and deficit reduction — not just the "infrastructure
bank" and other ideas he still supports, but have failed to gain
traction in the House and the Senate.

It will also substantively differ from the plan he and Speaker of
the House John
Boehner negotiated during the debt ceiling crisis – one that
Boehner rejected because of the amount of revenues Obama
demanded.

Using the Super Committee would lower the threshold to pass a
more substantial bill, because the group's recommendations are
required to be taken up for a straight majority vote before
December 23.

Among Obama's proposals will be an extension of the payroll tax,
the ratification of free trade bills, and passage of a patent
reform bill that he previously called for. New proposals will
likely include some form of tax breaks for
job-creating-businesses and the middle class, coupled with higher
taxes on the wealthy and the elimination or corporate subsidies.

The Super Committee is not required to accept Obama's proposals —
and indeed he was specifically cut out of the process when the
group was created. But with six Democrats, and several fiscal
moderates on the committee, Obama's proposals will carry a
significant amount of weight.

Republicans have criticized Obama for months for failing to
provide a specific plan to cut the nation's debt — and even
The
New York Times editorial page declared today that the country
is
"waiting for Obama."

Obama, who has long bemoaned a Congress that is unwilling to make
the difficult choices, will make the choices for them, and let
them take it or leave it.

"And if they don't get it done," Obama said at a town hall on
Monday, "then we'll be running against a Congress that's not
doing anything for the American people, and the choice will be
very stark and will be very clear."

For Obama, who faces reelection in 15 months, bold leadership is
precisely what he needs to bolster his campaign. But it remains
to be seen how the congressional leadership — who are committed
to denying the president a second term — will react to his
proposals.